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Topic: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux (Read 12973 times)

Aren't there a lot of acids in blueberries? Maybe if you were to macerate them with some calcium carbonate to lower their Ph? Other option might be dried fruit. I believe that might be what they put into the cranberry ones. Just thinking out loud here as I'm really anxious for you to get this right. Then I can make some.

For a 38 gallon make I use 2 cups of dried blueberries rehydrated in 6 cups of purified water. I add 1 TBS baking soda to balance the pH and 1 TBS of Natamax to prevent mold on the fruit. I add salt and the blueberries to the cooked curds, hoop and press as usual. I do this with my blueberry blue cheese and also Butterkase. I use this same technique with cranberries.

IMHO a 1 gallon make is really difficult to control. My cheeses are 8.5" and around 7 pounds.

Washing the curds, even if a recipe doesn't specifically call for it, will reduce the acidity that is produced during pressing. That will produce a softer, creamier texture and will also help balance out any residual acid from the berries. The baking soda may not entirely penetrate the skin of the berry, so the interior pulp can still be pretty acidic.

Washing the curds, even if a recipe doesn't specifically call for it, will reduce the acidity that is produced during pressing. That will produce a softer, creamier texture and will also help balance out any residual acid from the berries. The baking soda may not entirely penetrate the skin of the berry, so the interior pulp can still be pretty acidic.

You're right, I had picked the wrong style as a base for this adventure. Fourme d'Ambert is incorrect and it should be a washed curd style. I have had good success with my washed curd cheeses. Not entirely sure that alone will permit the berries to remain somewhat moist. I wonder if there is any way to better resolve the acidity inside the berries. If I think I have balanced the pH with baking soda, but the berries still retain an inner acidity, then I have really achieved nothing except to fool myself.

Aren't there a lot of acids in blueberries? Maybe if you were to macerate them with some calcium carbonate to lower their Ph? Other option might be dried fruit. I believe that might be what they put into the cranberry ones. Just thinking out loud here as I'm really anxious for you to get this right. Then I can make some.

Aren't there a lot of acids in blueberries? Maybe if you were to macerate them with some calcium carbonate to lower their Ph? Other option might be dried fruit. I believe that might be what they put into the cranberry ones. Just thinking out loud here as I'm really anxious for you to get this right. Then I can make some.

Boofer, if you are concerned about the inside of the berries still being acidic you could pierce the berries with a large sewing needle before soaking them in the backing soda. That should allow it to get inside the berries. Or use a knife and cut them slightly (i.e. put a small slit in each berry) before rehydrating. Since you're just doing a small batch, this might be doable, albeit a royal pain. But, I'm sure Sailor doesn't do this as he's working on a commercial scale and he didn't mention anything like this, so I suspect using a washed curd like butterkase or gouda as a base would solve the problem without the insanity inducing single berry special acupuncture treatment. You'll get there, and when you do, it will be a huge success.

- Jeff

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The wise do not always start out on the right path, but they do know when to change course.

A washed curd cheese is sort of the easy way out because that will help naturally mitigate some of the acidity from the berries. However, I do both blueberry and cranberry variations of my Rhapsody En Bleu (Stilton style) all the time, so the Fourme should work. For me the trick seems to be giving adequate time for the berries to rehydrate and uptake the baking soda. I also only use fruit in cheeses that are salted, not brined.

I am going to try using fresh, not dried, berries in a Butterkase very soon. I will soak them in StarSan for about 10 minutes to kill off any unwanted microbes. Then I will rinse and soak them in my normal baking soda/Natamax solution for a couple of hours before mixing into the drained curds. My goal is plumper looking berries. However, keep in mind that the pressing process alone will "pop" many berries anyway.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that at least some are milled after aging, the fruit is added, and the cheese is re-pressed. This would require more pressure than most home presses can handle. Perhaps Francois and LB could give us some hints about how the big commercial guys use fruit and berries.

My Saint Paulin is just starting to get a Geo dusting though I've just started washing with linens.

One project that I've been looking at is a return to Taleggio. One day, while staring deeply into my coffee, I squinted and saw the plastic trays that the biscotti were sitting in. I immediately envisioned Taleggio. Seems almost perfect.